Chapter 513: The Important Minister of the Country Disappointed the Emperor

Beijing, the place where the world gathers for great events.

When all over the country was in turmoil, this place was neither ravaged by the smallpox epidemic nor destroyed by the war, but presented a new and emerging atmosphere with each passing day.

Beijing City has not only not been eroded by the years, but has been completely renewed. The bluestone paved road in the inner city is as smooth as a mirror, and the streets are lined with green trees and flowers.

Because there is no expansion of the outer city, the land in the inner city is very expensive, and the price has continued to rise in recent years.

The families who originally had dilapidated houses in the inner city have all changed. They either make money to renovate their own houses, or sell them at a high price and move out to live in the suburbs.

Now the inner city is full of various distinctive ancient architectural style houses, which are full of oriental elements. The diplomatic envoys from various countries who come here can dazzle them even if they just wander around.

As the income of residents continues to rise, it not only promotes the consumption market in Beijing, but also makes the business atmosphere here more and more intense, even not inferior to the first-tier cities in Jiangnan.

Especially those shops are more and more willing to spend money on decoration. Today, the most luxurious restaurant is in the east of the city, and tomorrow the title of the most luxurious restaurant may fall to the north of the city.

In fact, the biggest change is the outer city. After the court clearly built the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, everyone knew that "Beijing is not facing the south", and many industries moved eastward.

According to people familiar with the Ministry of Industry, in the planning of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, the future Beijing Railway Station will be located in the eastern suburbs, so the land prices in the eastern suburbs have risen sharply.

In the past, Qian Yuanwai hoarded land in the suburbs, originally betting that the court would build the outer city to meet the residential needs of the population.

Although the court has obviously given up building the outer city, now everyone has more and more confidence in the Ming army, and a large number of people live in the suburbs, resulting in soaring land prices, and Qian Yuanwai's investment has brought back ten times the return.

Of course, this is due to the new urban planning proposed by Zhu Youtang, which marked out a large area like a chessboard in the eastern suburbs and built wide cement roads in it.

If the inner city is built in the style of ancient times, then the new district in the eastern suburbs presents modern elements. Two-story brick buildings have sprung up one after another, and have become the preferred style for many people.

Unlike the elegance pursued by the rich, ordinary people only need a place to shelter from the wind and rain, so buildings that can make better use of land have become the economic choice of ordinary people.

Although the buildings that continue to emerge are also silently driving the economic development of the Ming Dynasty, they inevitably consume pig iron.

Pig iron has become the most urgently needed material for the entire dynasty.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty has many iron mines, and overseas vassals are constantly paying tribute to pig iron, and even Champa has used its national strength to mine iron for the Ming Dynasty.

Of course, these pig irons can only be said to be just enough, and if the Ming Dynasty wants to continue building like this, it needs to get a lot of pig iron from other places.

At present, the most ambitious project in the capital is naturally the Beijing-Tianjin Railway. This railway of more than 200 kilometers extends from Beijing to Tianjin Port, which will be a landmark project for the rise of the Ming Dynasty.

The financial budget of the Ming Dynasty is expected to exceed 10 million silver yuan. Although most of the cost is to purchase iron ore, part of it is the salary and food of workers, and this money is also slowly flowing into various industries.

Take animal husbandry as an example. As more and more people participate in the construction of the Beijing-Tianjin Railway, a large amount of meat is needed every day, which also drives the income of livestock owners.

Fortunately, the Ming Dynasty has established a national breeding base in Juyongguan, and has established mutton trade with the Northern Yuan Dynasty, the Three Guards of Duoyan and the Four Tribes of Haixi Jurchen.

Although the Ming Dynasty still regards entering the officialdom as its top priority, with the prosperity of all industries, more and more families are willing to let them invest in this kind of production and construction.

Especially the most popular architects now not only have the reputation of being a student of the Imperial Academy, but also can be appointed to the Ministry of Works, and can even become officials of the Ministry of Works in the future.

In the latest plan of the officials of the Ministry of Works, the left assistant minister of the Ministry of Works will be required to be from the engineering college in the future, which has added fuel to the already hot college.

As for Jia Jun, the former Minister of Works who successfully entered the cabinet, he made everyone realize the importance of the emperor to the Ministry of Works and his special care for engineering talents.

The hot construction of the Ming Dynasty was not only driven by the court behind the scenes, but also by the enthusiasm of the people across the country, and even formed a wave of construction.

That is why, driven by construction, the buildings in the inner city of Beijing remain antique, but the new district in the east of the city is already filled with a modern atmosphere.

Xiyuan, Yangxin Palace.

This place has become a well-deserved imperial center. Officials come in and out here every day, and no one is not secretly happy to be here.

After slowly correcting his temper, Zhu Youtang has maintained absolute rationality in everything, and now he has become a very good emperor.

Facing the affairs of the two capitals and thirteen provinces, it is now easy to handle, and the officials below are obviously becoming more and more capable, and some officials who dare to take responsibility have also appeared.

In the past, officials would push things off if they could, and would deal with things by guessing what the superiors meant. However, after several purges, they realized that mediocrity would not be reused in this dynasty.

The investigation results on the corruption case in Nanliujiang have been clear. When Zhu Youtang saw that Liu Zheng was involved in the case, he could not help but sigh.

Even if an official is honest, it is probably only temporary. Once they are transferred to the local level and have the power to monopolize, they will inevitably lose themselves.

Zhu Youtang knew that it was impossible to eliminate corruption, but he would never compromise with corrupt officials. He would clean up a group of corrupt officials if he found one.

In the past, people praised Zhang Juzheng for employing the corrupt official Yin Zhengmao, which successfully suppressed the Yao rebellion in Guangxi, but in his case, the corrupt must be punished.

Zhu Youtang believed that China was not short of talents, and facts proved that there were more and more talents now, but there was no need to compromise with greedy people.

"Your Majesty, the adults have arrived!" Liu Jin came in from outside, flicked off the snowflakes on his body, and reported carefully.

Zhu Youtang put down the pen in his hand, but his face looked very ugly.

Seeing this, Liu Jin hurriedly followed to block the wind for Zhu Youtang.

The imperial study, where heating has also started.

"Your Majesty, I bow to you. Long live the emperor, long live the emperor, long live the emperor!" Yin Zhi and other important officials who were waiting here knelt down one after another, and said respectfully.

Zhu Youtang did not go up to the attic, but sat on the dragon chair in the imperial gate room, which was very rare, and then threw a memorial down angrily, saying: "Some of you may still be in the dark, take a look!"

"As ordered!"

Yin Zhi was the first to react, and then carefully picked up the memorial to browse, but the content was actually known, and he passed it on with just one glance.

This memorial was passed among these important officials. After reading the content, everyone looked very solemn, especially Yin Zhi, the Minister of Rites, who lowered his head in shame.

They are all among the highest decision-makers of the empire, respected by the world, and the goal of countless people. But at this moment, they are kneeling obediently.

Zhu Youtang looked at the delivery and slowly said: "You are all pillars of the country, but no one can see through the conspiracy of a woman. Are you worthy of me?"

As soon as these words came out, the temperature of the entire imperial study dropped several degrees.

"We deserve to die!" The cabinet chief Yin Zhi and other important officials who were kneeling on the ground knew that Zhu Youtang was angry, and they also confessed their guilt with great self-blame.

Zhu Youtang was still angry, but he said bitterly: "Don't say these useless things now. I heard you arrange for Bei Fei to visit her parents, but what's the result now?"

Because Manduhai was seriously ill, and the Ming Dynasty had other political purposes, everyone agreed to Manduhai's request and let Bei Fei go back to visit her parents.

But no one thought that this was actually a conspiracy set up by Manduhai.

After receiving Bei Fei's family review group, Manduhai detained Bei Fei Yi Xike and his party. The key point was that Bei Fei Yi Xike brought the prince Zhu Houxuan with him this time.

If only Bei Fei fell into Manduhai's hands, it would be fine. After all, a mother is unlikely to threaten the Ming Dynasty with her daughter's life, but it's hard to say about the prince Zhu Houxuan.

This...

The Minister of the Ministry of Revenue He Cong couldn't help but raise his eyes and glance at Zhu Youtang, and his heart couldn't help but feel bitter.

Although they all supported the Northern Concubine to go back to visit her parents, the emperor obviously agreed to it at that time, and the original agenda did not include the prince Zhu Houxuan going with her.

It's just that now things have gone wrong, and the emperor wants to put all the blame on them.

But now that things have come to this point, they will eventually bear all the responsibility. After all, it was the Minister of Rites Zhang Changsheng who pushed for the prince to join the family visit, and they were also tempted by the political situation of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, and thus fell into the trap set by that woman.

"Your Majesty, please take the emperor's body as the most important thing. Everything is my fault. Please punish me severely!" Minister of Rites Zhang Sheng crawled a few steps and solemnly admitted his mistake to Zhu Youtang.

Although his original intention was for the benefit of the Ming Dynasty and out of consideration for the emperor's filial piety, so he pushed the Northern Concubine to visit her parents, but this cannot be an excuse.

Moreover, when the Mongolian envoy asked the Northern Concubine to take her son to see her grandmother for the last time, he also helped to clear the obstacles, which led to the current situation.

If we really want to talk about the first person responsible, then he, the Minister of Rites who is trusted by His Majesty, is undoubtedly the first person responsible and the culprit who caused the prince Zhu Houxuan to fall into the hands of Manduhai.

Zhu Youtang knew that Zhang Sheng could not be a spy from Mongolia, but he waved his hand and said: "I don't need you to confess. I need a strategy to save the prince, which is also the only topic of today's Supreme Meeting!"

"Ministers obey your order!" Yin Zhi, the chief minister of the cabinet, and others secretly breathed a sigh of relief and said respectfully.

Zhu Youtang did not stay downstairs, but got up and left the dragon chair and went up to the attic along the stairs next to him.

Although he didn't like this situation, now that his wife and son were in the hands of Manduhai, he could only want a safe solution.

Whether it was to send troops to fight or to make an exchange, he had to let the Northern Concubine return smoothly with her son from Mongolia.

When Zhu Youtang went to the attic, everyone sat back in their seats, and every important official felt an unprecedented pressure at this moment.

It's no wonder that the emperor was so angry. He trusted them so much before, but he fell into Manduhai's trap and let the Northern Concubine and the prince fall into Manduhai's hands.

Liu Xuan, the Minister of War, was the first to speak in front of all the important officials: "The Northern Concubine and the prince are related to the face of the Ming Dynasty. Now the Northern Yuan Dynasty has gone back on its word and despised the power of our dynasty. I think we should immediately send troops to attack the Northern Yuan Dynasty and rescue the Northern Concubine and the prince!"

This...

Officials such as Chen Kun, the Minister of Works, turned their heads to look at Liu Xuan, their eyes looking quite complicated.

In theory, it is indeed a method for them to conquer the Northern Yuan Dynasty now, but it seems to be a waste of time to raise troops for the Northern Concubine and the prince.

Whether it is the East China Sea Governor's Office attacking Shikoku Island or sending Wang Zhendong to raid the Ryukyu Kingdom, these two places are like a fixed target staying there.

It's just that the Northern Yuan Dynasty is a nomadic people. Not to mention that they have no fixed place to live, once the Ming army really beats them hard, they will flee to the desert with all their forces.

Don't underestimate Mongolia. The real territory of Mongolia is more than half of the area of ​​the Ming Dynasty.

Even if the degree of wealth is a world of difference, if he really flees to the north, he will almost have to look for them in most of the land of China, which is simply looking for a needle in a haystack.

Unfortunately, everyone knows that the emperor is in a rage now. If you rashly oppose this conquest plan that suits the emperor's mind, maybe the anger will burn on yourself.

Huh?

Liu Jin followed Zhu Youtang up to the attic, but when he stood in front of the railing, he found that the important officials below were suddenly silent.

Wan Yi, the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Censorate, followed the tradition of the Censorate and came here with only a pair of eyes. He found that these important officials were so silent, and he couldn't help but frowned slightly.

Thanks to his father's teachings for many years, he has a high political talent and naturally knows that these important officials are trying to protect themselves.

But now it is not worthwhile for the Ming Dynasty to start such a big war just for the Northern Concubine and the Prince, unless the Ming Dynasty starts the plan to annex the Northern Yuan Dynasty.

Cough...

Just at this moment, a cough broke the silence.

Liu Zhong, the Minister of Agriculture, and other important officials looked over, and their eyes couldn't help but flash a hint of surprise.

"Let me say a few words!" Wang Yue, who almost never spoke, stood up and said very seriously: "The Art of War says: Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be in danger in a hundred battles! Manduhai designed to put the Northern Concubine and the prince under house arrest, but the little prince held hostage in the capital has been confirmed to be the son of Manduhai and Dayan Khan. Isn't this strange?"

Although the Ming prince Zhu Houxuan fell into Manduhai's hands, Manduhai had sent the little prince to the capital as a hostage for safety reasons in the early years.

Originally, the Mongolian envoys also hoped to bring the little prince back this time, but the Ming side finally adopted the compromise plan of grandson Zhu Houxuan on the grounds of the little prince's personal safety. (End of this chapter)